


Light in the Man

by wait_shesaid_what



Category: Captain America (Movies), Doctor Who, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Clara accidentally joins The Avengers, Crossover Pairings, Dreams, HYDRA is everywhere, Memory Alteration, Multi, Past Lives, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Post-Season/Series 08
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-07-13
Packaged: 2018-06-08 23:45:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6880441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wait_shesaid_what/pseuds/wait_shesaid_what
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clara is trying to build a life for herself after she leaves The Doctor, but it's hard to focus on work when she's haunted by dreams of a handsome soldier. Little does she know that life after traveling through time and space won't be as normal as she expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. News in the Night

**Author's Note:**

> After weeks of trying to figure out what to write this little bugger popped out. I've always been a fan of crossover ships, especially for Clara so this is an exciting project for me. I hope to include as many Marvel characters I can with an occasional appearances of Doctor Who characters. The Doctor himself will show up in later chapters. 
> 
> (P.S.Rachel if you are reading this please do not hate me.)

Clara was having trouble trying to find the right adjective for her life after it was all over. 

After Danny died. After the Cybermen. After The Doctor left. 

She deliberated on subject longer than she cared to admit before she found the right word. Bored. Yes, bored was perfect. Bored was how she felt when she ate dinner alone. Bored perfectly described walking by herself to work. Bored was how she felt about Danny’s death therefore bored was how she felt about her life now. No significant other to make her smile. No best friend to whisk her across the universe whenever she felt like it. It was clear. Clara Oswald was bored. And lonely…

***

“You look awful!” was the first thing out of Cassandra’s mouth as she sat down next to her.

Clara groaned at the sound of her fellow English teacher’s voice. She didn’t mind Cassandra Romulus too much, in fact she liked her most days though her voice sounded like it she drank helium every morning. Most days it wouldn’t get too her, but today was an exception. 

“Can you keep your voice down?” Clara hissed. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“Again?” Cassandra frowned. “That’s third time in a row this week!”

“I know.” Clara replied trying to rub the tired out of her eyes. 

“Maybe you should take some time off.” her friend suggested. 

“What?” 

“You know, go on a trip or something. You haven’t took time off since-”

“No!” Clara huffed, no way. While going away would be nice she couldn’t just go.

“I can’t just leave! What about my students? We just started reading Northanger Abbey! Besides, where could I go on a teacher’s salary?”

Cassandra shrugged standing up. “Make excuses all you want, but it’s easy for me to see. You need to getaway Ms. Oswald.”

***

_The lights of The Expo were breathtaking at night._

_It was so exciting to be there after reading all about it in the papers.  
After the flying car exhibit she stood with Bonnie waiting for the boys to take them dancing._

_His dazzling smiling cut through all the faces._

_“Hey Sarge!” She called out to him. “ Are we going dancing?”_

***

“Ah!” Clara jolted awake with one of the papers she had been grading stuck to her face. She was in her apartment, not a festival in New York. She sighed in relief. She had been having the same dream all week.

The first night it happened she hadn’t thought much of it. Traveling with The Doctor to strange and far way places often lead to equally odd dreams.

The second night she began to suspect it may have had to do with one of her ‘Echos’.

The third night she gave up on trying to get back to sleep and decided to do some research. She used what little information she gathered from her dream. Guessing by the uniform the soldier had been wearing and her own clothes in the dream she put the time period in World War II. Unfortunately her internet search landed her with over 4 million results. 

After four days she nearly called The Doctor. 

Yesterday she avoided her slumber all together as she looked into that vacation Cassandra suggested. Ultimately Clara found that a teacher’s salary wouldn’t get her as far as she’d like.

Tonight she was once again overcome with the feeling to seek out her time traveling friend, but what good would that do for either of them? She had lied to him about Danny and she was almost certain that he had lied to her about Gallifrey. No, she couldn’t call him. Not yet.

Deciding that once again that sleeping wasn’t going to be an option she flipped on her telly. Surfing through the channels she settled on a twenty-four hour world news broadcast. She listened as intently as her droopy eyes would let her as the anchors rambled on about the fall of S.H.E.I.L.D. a couple weeks ago in Washington DC.

_”Sources are now telling us that Captain Rogers has since been released from the hospital...”_

_Knock knock._

Clara turned down the volume and stared at her front door. Surely she had misheard the noise. Who’d be here at this hour?

_Knock knock_

Clara’s heart leapt to her throat. A million scenarios running through her head. None were pretty. She crept quietly off the couch and shuffled towards her kitchen table for her phone.

 _Knock knock_ “Clara? Are you awake?”

“Cassandra?” What was she doing here?

“Yes it’s me. Open up! I know you haven’t been sleeping well so I thought I’d keep you company. ” The other woman said. Clara relaxed as she opened the door. Cassandra yawned as she sauntered into the flat and dropped her oddly heavy seeming purse on the kitchen counter. “So how’ve you been? Gotten any sleep yet?”

“Not really.” Clara shrugged. “I dozed off for a few minutes but-” She stopped. Words frozen in her mouth.

“What’s wrong?” Cassandra had asked, but Clara did not hear it. She was focused on the face that occupied her TV. It was him. She was sure of it. The soldier in her dreams. But _how_? “Clara?”

Clara rushed back onto her sofa to rewind the news back to catch what was being said about him.

_”The previously classified files released on the web by Natasha Romanoff show that The Winter Soldier is responsible for the assassinations of several high ranking global leaders throughout the past several decades. However the most shocking part is that this information stated that The Winter Soldier is Sergeant James “Bucky” Barnes known for his affiliation with Captain America in World War II. Further information is still being decoded to discover how Sergeant Barnes survived…”_

“Clara!” Cassandra yelled. Clara jumped as the haze was lifted. Her friend looked at her with concern. “What’s the matter with you?”

“I-I know this sounds impossible, but I think I know him.” she pointed at the screen where Sergeant Barnes was still being displayed. It was an old photo that looked like it was taken during the war. How could someone be so dirty and hungry looking yet so incredibly handsome? In the background she heard Cassandra open her purse and pull something out.

“No Clara. That doesn’t sound impossible at all.” Something in her voice had changed. It wasn’t as high anymore and sounded threatening. Clara whirled around to look at her but instead found herself staring at the barrel of a gun.


	2. Men in the Flat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I had a damn hard time writing this chapter so I hope it turned okay! 
> 
>  
> 
> No Beta. All mistakes are mine.

Someone once said ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.’, though traveling with The Doctor taught her that running away was always a better option. Now however, Clara had nowhere to run and was certain that she did not want to be anywhere near the woman who had, up until two minutes ago, been her friend. In those two minutes, three men dressed in all black who also were holding guns had also entered her tiny home. She was surrounded.

“Cassandra?” It took every strength Clara had in her to make her voice not shake. “What’s going on?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” The woman said dropping her fake accent for an American one, then gestured around the room. “We’re taking you on that vacation you so desperately need.” The other men in the room chuckled. The feeling of complete helplessness set in as Clara blinked back tears. She would not cry in front of these people, not in her own home. 

“Who are you? What do you want?” Clara asked sternly. It was more than likely that they were after The Doctor, but something in her gut told her this had nothing to do with the time traveler. The guard to her left groaned.

“Why are we even bothering with this chick? She knows nothin’.” he grumbled. Cassandra shot him a look.

“We’re here under orders and that’s all that should matter to you.” she said threatenly then turned to Clara her icy glare melting into a smile. “But you Clara deserve answers.”

Oh that didn’t sound good.

“You see it’s quite simple.” Cassandra began. “You’ve seen the news. The Winter Soldier is very dangerous and only we can contain him.”

“ ‘We’?” Things began to click into place inside Clara’s brain. “You mean Hydra?”

Cassandra gave a grin that made Clara’s stomach turn. “Exactly. Hail Hydra.” The other men, the other Hydra agents in the room repeated the phrase back. Clara shook her head as if to sort out her thoughts.

“But what does this have to do with me?” 

“Well my dear, sweet Clara,” Cassandra purred stepping closer to her, gun unmoving. “Are the bait.”

“I don’t underst-”

“What was that?” One of the agents interrupted. He aimed his gun at the door. “I heard something!”

Cassandra rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed about her conversation being cut in.

“Oh please. You’re-”

“No I heard it to!” Another agent informed the woman. Clara took her eyes off her former friend and glanced around. She hadn’t heard anything, then again the two agents were the closest to the door. Cassandra wasn’t taking chances of them being overheard it seemed.

“Go check it out.” she ordered.

“And if we find someone, Ma’am?” One of them asked.

“Shoot them you idiot.” And then they left shutting the door behind them.

A minute past. Then two. Then ten. Cassandra got more agitated each second that passed.

“You.” she said to the remaining guard. “Go see what’s taking them.” He nodded then left as well. 

Suddenly there were two gunshots. Cassandra yanked Clara around and placed the gun on her right temple. 

“Move and you’re dead.” Clara was still as she could manage as even more fear threatened to make her tremble. _Deep breath, Clara. Deep breath._

The room and Cassandra was silent. Waiting for whatever was on the other side of the door. It opened slowly. Cassandra clicked off the safety. Clara’s mouth dropped.   
Standing in Clara’s doorway was Captain America. 

Clara must have seen him twenty times on the news in the past two weeks after what happened in Washington DC. She had watched and rewatched the footage from The Battle of New York a hundred times over as The Doctor and herself hadn’t been there. She’ll even admit that she may have looked up photos of him shirtless once or twice. None of that did justice to the super soldier standing in front of her, shield in hand. There was an odd feeling of deja vu at the back of Clara’s mind at the sight of him. 

“I’m only going to say this once,” He said. Behind him in the hallway the three Hydra agents were on the ground “Put the gun down and let her go.”

“O-or what?” Cassandra said trying to stay calm, but her tightened grip on Clara’s arm gave her away. The Captain did not answer. The Hydra woman straightened up at this. “What are you going to do?”

Still no reply.

“You think we need her?” She asked pressing the gun hard against Clara’s head. “We don’t.”

“You don’t want to do this.” He affirmed calmly. Cassandra snorted.

“I wouldn’t hold your breath on that. Want to know what my main assignment is? I’ll give you a hint. It wasn’t to bring her in.” She stated, gaining confidence with each word. “My mission was to keep her from you!” Cassandra finished smugly. “You’ll never be able to find him without her.” The Avenger was quiet again. Clara began to feel dizzy.

“So,” The Hydra woman continued. “I’m going to walk out of here and Ms. Oswald is coming with me and maybe you’ll get to see your best friend again before he kills you”

Cassandra nudged Clara forward as the school teacher’s head throbbed. Captain America stepped towards them.

“I can’t let that happen.” He said plainly. Even through her pounding headache she managed to catch the change in his demeanor. It reminded her of the time Courtney lied and claimed she ‘accidentally’ set fire to her homework and her friend had backed her story.

“Yeah,” A new voice chimed in. “Neither can I.”

Cassandra spun to face the new voice. The Captain lunged forward, and then everything went black.

 

***

 

_”A what?” She faced him bewildered by what she thought she just heard._

_“A double date!” Bucky said smiling. “It’ll be great! You and me. Steve and Bonnie. We’ll ever go dancing.”_

_“Absolutely not! Bonnie hasn’t even met Steve!” She laughed at his naive idea to set up their mutual best friends._

_“Even better! We’ll tell her the good stuff and leave out the rest.” He frowned at her suddenly. “What’s the matter?”_

_“Nothing.”_

_“Connie…”_

_“Nothing! It’s just…” She trailed off. Bucky held her hands in his. She sighed and looked up at him. “You’re leaving tomorrow. This was going to be our night.”_

_“I know. I’m sorry.” The look in his eyes told her he meant it. He kissed her forehead. “I just want to make sure Steve will be alright while I’m gone”_

_“Just Steve huh?”_

_“Hey.” He took her face in his hands, placing a kiss on her lips this time. “I love you. Don’t ever doubt that okay?”_

_“I’ll never doubt you.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please send me feedback and let me know if you want hear where Clara and The Doctor were during The Battle of New York!


	3. Agent in the Carter

_16 hours earlier in Washington DC..._

Sharon sighed with exhaustion as she trudged up the stairs to her apartment. 

The former agent of S.H.E.I.L.D.’s day had been a long one. Firstly, when she visited Aunt Peggy that morning, the older woman had mistaken her for nurse several times. It ached Sharon’s heart to see the woman she admired so much losing her battle with such an awful disease. However, it ended well with the two former Agents Carter parting ways after remembering the day Peggy’s youngest granddaughter was born. 

After she left, Sharon had _another_ meeting with some lawyer and some government official to, once again, prove she was a loyal citizen of the United States and _not_ a Hydra agent. As if the first twelve meetings and three hearings weren’t enough. This one took longer than expected which gave her no time to visit Steve at the hospital. When Natasha informed her that he had woken up, she made a point to go see him as often as her schedule allowed it. Like he had done for Peggy. He had taken her relation to the woman better than Sharon had predicted. He tried to apologise for his rude behavior to her at S.H.I.E.L.D. but she had told him that all was already forgiven. 

Lastly, she had her ‘job interview’ with the CIA. As Two hours hooked up to a lie detector test as they asked her extremely personal and mostly sexist questions followed by an additional hour at the shooting range to prove her skills. Nothing she couldn’t handle of course. She was a Carter. And they would hire her she was sure, but in case they didn’t she had made sure she would get what she needed from them. 

Hydra had destroyed everything Peggy and Sharon’s family had built and that pissed her off. Turns out she wasn’t the only one. Tony Stark had been kind enough to lend her some of his best incognito hacking devices that she had expertly placed while at Langley. She now had access to all information pertinent to Hydra that the CIA and it’s connecting agencies had.

She smiled as she reached her floor. Then lost it immediately. Sharon distinctly remembered shutting off all the lights in her apartment before leaving that morning, yet there was light shining out from under the door. _Someone was in her home._

She quietly got the small gun in her purse out before setting the bag down and was about to kick down the door when she noticed something else. A small piece of paper, folded and tucked behind the apartment number. Sharon carefully took it out and unfolded it.

It was a coffee receipt.

Sharon smiled, knowing exactly who had let themselves into her dwelling. She retrieved her purse a stowed her gun away once more before entering herself.

“Hello Steve.” She greeted the man sitting on her couch.

“Hey Neighbor.” He replied grinning. It was odd. He looked too large for her sofa, yet it also looked like he belonged there.

“I heard a rumour that you’d been released. Looks like it’s true.” She leaned against the front door and crossed her arms. “How are you feeling?”

“Like they kept me in that hospital way too long.” Steve scooched over making just enough room for her to join him. Which she did.

“I see you brought coffee.” Sharon said acknowledging the two cups on the table. The super soldier smiled shyly.

“I didn’t know how you liked it so I just got it black” He handed it to her while grabbing his own. She instantly took a large gulp of her’s and savored it. She had really needed coffee. 

They sat in silence for awhile. A part of Sharon wished she could stay in this moment for awhile. To just take pleasure in each others company like they had at the hospital, but she knew they couldn’t. She knew why he was here.

“Do you have a lead on Bucky?” she asked quietly. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. The stress of the past few weeks events were taking a toll on him. He hadn’t shaved and there were dark circles under his eyes.

“Natasha… She gave me this file on him, on The Winter Soldier.” he took a shaky breath. “The things they did to him…” He shook those thoughts away. “Anyways I was hoping there was something in the files that you could connect with info from the CIA.”

In that Sharon was glad she had let him in on what she planned to do. Peggy always said that Steve needed people he trusted to lean on. Not only was he leaning on her, but he was leaning on her skills. And if DNA meant anything, her skills would hold. She stood up and picked up her laptop from it’s place on her chair and booted it up.

“Let’s see.”

It took surprisingly little time to come up with something. Steve had found a piece of paper on the file with nothing but a name. Clara O. Oswald. Through the CIA data Sharon managed to find someone with that name living in London and a picture of her. When Steve saw it he frowned.

“What is it?” Sharon asked.

“Sorry it’s just she’s a spitting image of Bucky’s old girlfriend, Connie.” He said shaking his head in disbelief.

“What do think that means?” Sharon asked, also looking at the picture on her screen.

“I don’t know, but I will when I ask her.” She turned and looked at him.

“Ask her? You’re going to London?” 

“I don’t see why not.” Steve shrugged. Oh. What was this Sharon was feeling? A call to action. She wondered if this is what soldiers felt before volunteering for to fight across seas.

“No.” She said “You’re not going by yourself.”

“I’m not.” He assured. “Sam Wilson is coming with me.”

“Let me rephrase that. You’re not going without me.”

“Sharon,” Steve sighed. “I can’t ask you to-”

“You didn’t ask. I’m telling you.” Sharon stated firmly. “If Bucky is in England or even Europe than Hydra is not far behind. I owe it to Peggy to try and take them down.”

Steve stared at her. She couldn't tell if it was admiration or disbelief or both. It didn't matter though. Hydra was brought to it’s knees by a Carter once before. And history would repeat itself if Sharon had anything to do about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SOOO SORRY!!! I meant to upload this chapter sooner, but I was out of the country and when I got back I decided to rewrite this entire chapter ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoyed Chapter 3 and let me know what you think in the comments!
> 
> (P.S. Also I guess this is Sharon/Steve fic to now. Don't worry we'll focus more on Clara and Bucky next chapter)

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment and tell me what you think! This chapter was shorter than I intended, but hopefully the others will be longer.
> 
> (Posted without Beta. All mistakes are mine.)


End file.
